HOUSTON – The ball bounced out to Diego Fagundez on the right wing and with stoppage time about to expire, he whipped a cross into the box that found the head of a streaking Daigo Kobayashi for the equalizing goal that sealed the 3-3 result between the New England Revolution and Houston Dynamo.
Kobayashi’s strike salvaged a road draw from a topsy-turvy afternoon for the Revs.
“We needed to fight, and for fighting that long, we actually got what we wanted, which was to leave here with points,” said Fagundez, who nabbed two assists after netting a 25-yard screamer to give the Revs an early lead in the third minute.
Despite the draw, New England coach Jay Heaps was critical of his team’s performance.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t at our best, and at times I thought Houston did a good job of punishing us,” Heaps said.
“In the end, I liked our belief – we fought to the last whistle and got a point.”
The Revolution's second-half substitutions were key in earning the draw.
“We rallied our guys and made some subs which I thought impacted the game,” said Heaps. “[Scott] Caldwell replaced Kelyn Rowe, and then Juan Agudelo added a little bit of a lift and of course Daigo … well, we don’t put him in there to head balls, but he got one.”
Heaps says he has been preaching resilience to his team and he saw signs of it on Sunday.
“I like the group we have,” he said. “We’ve added some real grit to our group with Je-Vaughn Watson and Gershon Koffie and it allows guys like Diego and Daigo and Scott and Lee [Nguyen] to go in and change the game,” said Heaps.
“And that’s kind of what happened with the last play: We fought till the last minute of the game, and Diego and Daigo worked a little bit of magic.”
